Shadows of Reality
by K. A. Maples
Summary: A young Shadow Lord must face a dark truth while on the hunt for his mother's killer


Shadows of Reality  
  
  
K.A. Maples  
  
Red Anubis  
  
Regina just kept moving north, from place to place. Never stopping long enough for anyone to catch up with her. Michael didn't know where she was going, be he'd track her down sooner or later. And then he was going to deliver judgement upon her with a fury... His mother had commited not crimes. She had not deserved that.   
  
It was doubtful that she would live long after that, if she survived the judgement at all. He hoped she didn't. He hoped she died painfully. He hoped she burned in Erebus. He had loved his mother, even if she had been strict. She'd never let him down... When he really needed it, she supported him.. And that bitch had killed her.  
  
He squeezed the steering wheel tight with anger and pain, then pulled over to the side of the road to check his map, and the stone. Maine. She'd made it all the way up to Maine somehow. But she was close now. She wouldn't make it to the border.  
  
If she did make it into Canada and made him travel through the harsh lands of the Wendigo on foot.. He'd take extra, special slowness in her punishment. He got back onto the road and started driving again, as close to the speed limit as he could get. He had to find her, soon. Quick. If she got too deep into Canada.. It'd be hell getting her.  
  
Of course, if some of the rumors he had heard were true, it might very well be hell getting to her *now*. A sept of outcasts working in concord with mages gone mad. If that was true, he'd get a Theurge to place a spirit track on her, then train until he could kill anyone and everyone that stood in his way. He would have vegence for his mother, in this life or the next. Even *outcast* must have some sense of right and wrong. And surely, this was wrong!  
  
He got back into the car and started driving again. The terrain had already long since turned to heavy woods. She was close. So very close. He could almost smell her scent. Soon she would be in his grasp, his mother would be, could be, finally avenged ! Micheal drove faster still, careful of the trees, wishing he had a truck. He might have to abandon the car if the road ended, but that was fine. He could track her on foot for some time, he was a Garou after all.  
  
He found that the road that he was following did indeed end, at the edge of a cliff surrounded by woods. The waves pounded upon the high stone edifice like the beating of many drums. The salt of the air stung at his nose and clung to his hair and the waves lashed themselves into a frenzy, as if they were trying to reach up to him. Lighting danced in the clouds above him as Grandfather Thunder rumbled in his sleep.  
  
Michael stopped his car quickly, then got out and looked around in all directions as fast as he could. He got out the stone and checked it, when put it away, and the map too. He shifted to Lupus and let out a brief howl to Grand Father Thunder before trying to pick up his sister's scent, starting to feel his mind race, he took slow, deep breaths. He caught the faintest wiff of her scent, leading into the woods. It was still fairly fresh. Oh yes, she was close... He finally managed to catch her scent. She had stopped for too long, and it would seal her fate. He bolted into the woods at full tilt, following the trail as closely as he could.  
  
Regina's trail was almost disgustingly easy to follow, even as the train began to fall gently tinto the woods. Her scent became stronger all the time. He was amused briefly at the thought of maybe she knew her persuer was closing in and it scared the piss out of her, making her easier to follow as he ran at full speed through the woods through the rain. The storm.. It was a sure sign he was close. There would be judgement today.  
  
He never saw the others, or heard them, or so much as scented them as he ran. He never so much as suspected he might be watched. He was intent only on his prey. Prey which he finally saw as he reached the edge of a small clearing. She was just... sitting there. Right there in the middle of the clearing. Like it was prefectly normal. Like there was absolutly nothing wrong. Like she just. Didn't. Care.  
  
"What took you so long?" she asked, looking up just a little. Long, coal black hair fell into her face, having long since come loose from her braid. It whipped around a little in the wind, leaving the impression of lashe marks across her thin face.  
  
He finally caught something he had been missing the whole time he had been trailing her scent. He caught the change in her pherimons.  
  
She was with child.  
  
He upshifted into Homid form, he was wearing a sharp looking black fedora, a black leather trench coat, heavy black cargo pants, and big black leather engineer boots which brought his height up a couple inches. "You ran quick like the coward you are. You killed mother! Why?! She never did anything to you! Didn't you *love* her? Care about her life?!" He found he was now hesitant about killing her, as she was pregnant.  
  
She didn't move. Not a single inch. Her tone didn't change in the slightest. She didn't even stand up. She just watched him while the rain streamed down from the sky and the thunder rumbled. "What I thought doesn't matter anymore. Just get it over with so you can go home and tell our father that I wont be bearing his tainted cub."   
  
He positively bristled as every short hair he had on his face and neck stood up on end, even though he was clean shaven, it was a clear sign. "What did you say? Father's cub? What does that have to do with mother? What do you mean?!" He was angry and confused, not knowing what to think. He activated the gift of truthsensing.  
  
She clucked her tongue. "But he wouldn't have told you that, would he? Wouldn't have told you what he did, since Mother couldn't give him another son. Wouldn't have told you that. She. Helped. Him."  
  
It was too much to learn, too fast. Knowledge he probably shouldn't have known. Knowledge he didn't want to know.. Even though he knew he had to. "Damn!" He realized she wasn't lying, and he struck a tree with his bare fist. "Why didn't you tell me? Instead running away like that, what was I supposed to think?!"  
  
"Exactly what they wanted you to think. If I had stayed, they just would have errased Father's mistake and put the blame on me anyway. You know that. It would be so very bad if the sept found out. Oh so very bad." She kept sitting there. "I knew you would be the one they would send."  
  
"Didn't father know it was going to be Metis? And.. His own daughter..." Michael shook his head as fast as he could to get the thoughts out of his head. "... How did it happen? How could mother have done that to you? How could *he* have done that?" Michael looked down to the ground. His mother and father... They were a lie?  
  
He didn't get any answers from Regina. She was just looking at him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. "Well, what are you waiting for?"  
  
"You know I can't kill you. That *would not* be justice. Aren't you going to tell me anything about it? I *need* to know.." He sighed and squeezed his fist tight. His father had sent him to assassinate his sister to cover up his dirty secret... Damn him!  
  
"I've already done somethng about it."  
  
"What did you do?" He looked down at her, looking closely to see how pregnant she was. She wasn't even showing yet.  
  
"She came to us." a woman's voice intoned from behind him.  
  
He blinked then looked around for the source of the voice. He found him face to chest with a giant of a man. The rain dripped off his bald, tattoo covered head, though that was partially covered by the woman who sat on his shoulder, balanced rather precariously, as she had no legs. It was the girl who had spoken, as the voice he had heard could not have come from a man.  
  
It was a rare event when he had to look up to see someone's face. In this case, he had to look up to see both. He looked up to girl. He had no more suprise to show. At this point, it would take something alot more than that to suprise him. "They sure do grow them big out here. So who is us?" He looked the giant over from head to toe, then the girl.   
  
"Sept of the Great Crossing, and every Black Fury and Metis in it. We're just the only one's crazy enough to go out in a thunder storm...... Mikey."  
  
Recgonician dawned slowly on him. He knew the legless girl who sat on the shoulders of the tattooed giant. She had been his home sept's only metis, before she'd gone off to "find herself". Ophilia.  
  
"My name's Michael, Ophilia." He said as he realized who she was. "And whats so crazy about being out in a storm?" He glanced around for the others but kept one eye on the giant. His mind was slowly but surely starting to come down from it's emotional high.  
  
"Well, according to my pack mates, it's just plain stupid. Mikey."  
  
"Whatever. If thats what you want to think." He walked over to a nearby tree and leaned on it... What was he supposed to do now? Go home? He couldn't go home.. He didn't have one anymore.  
  
Ophilia put her fingers to her lips and whistled. "Yo Reg. C'mon, time to get your ass in gear and go home."  
  
"No."  
  
Michael looked up at Regina. Home? Did they mean back to the Sept, or back to where he came from? He watched quietly, still trying to sort himself out.  
  
Ophilia sighed. "Why must you homids be so damned difficult? Calvin, grab her so we can get in and I can get a beer." The giant rumbled deep in his chest and moved forward slowly, towards Regina.  
  
Michael watched quietly. Regina wasn't in any real danger.. But why was she resisting them? It didn't make much sense. He took out the now useless stone, and tossed it into the woods. The giant bent down and picked his sister up. She didn't resist, but she didn't help him. She seemed more like a rag doll than a person.  
  
Micheal slumped slowly down into a squat against the tree, putting his arms on his knees, and his head on his arms, thinking.  
  
"You gonna sit there all night, or should I have Calvin carry you, too?"  
  
"Carry me where?" He looked up at them after a moment, having been lost in thought.  
  
"Well, back to the sept, duh. Can't just leave you out here all night. You might get eaten by some of the meaner Furies, since you're kinda here without their permission."  
  
"Lovely. And I thought they weren't into men much." He got up and started walking behind them by about twenty feet, keeping his eyes on the giant's feet. He didn't want to look at his sister. 


End file.
